Kings Pinnacle (32 page)

“Robert, who is an excellent
forger, by the way, will write a letter in Ruskin’s handwriting for
Big Mike to carry with him as his orders. Big Mike will tell his
tale and produce the letter as his authorization to collect Maggie.
Big Mike will have Molly with him to point him in the right
direction and to help him with any bumps in the road that he might
encounter on the way there. After they collect Maggie, they high
tail it back here to Valley Forge, so we can figure out how to
continue to use Molly and Maggie to feed false information to the
British,” said Alex.

“Shouldn’t be much of a
problem,” said Big Mike Finn.

“Let’s find Molly and see
what she thinks about our plan,” said Alex.

* * * *

Captain Ferguson

“
We’re going to have to
operate on your damaged right elbow,” said the surgeon.

“You mean it won’t just heal
on its own?” asked Captain Ferguson.

“No it won’t. It has some
embedded bone splinters that need to be cleaned out. We also need
to repair some of the damage that the musket ball did to the
muscles and ligaments,” replied the surgeon.

Captain Ferguson was lying
flat on his back in a hospital in Philadelphia where a team of
doctors, both British and American, had evaluated his injury and
come to a collective opinion about it.

“What’s the worst outcome of
the surgery?” asked Captain Ferguson.

“If we find it is bad
enough, we might have to amputate your arm at the elbow, but we
don’t think it will come to that. As far as prognosis goes, you
could lose the use of your arm. However, it could result in a full
recovery. We just don’t know at this point,” said the
surgeon.

“When do you want to do the
surgery?” asked the captain.

“
The sooner, the better,”
replied the surgeon.

“Okay, but I don’t want my
arm amputated no matter how bad the injury is,” stated Captain
Ferguson.

He knew that an amputation
of his arm meant the end of his military career, and he desperately
wanted to stay in the army.

“We’ll do what we can,”
replied the surgeon.

Captain Ferguson survived
the surgery and several more follow up surgeries, all of which were
performed without anesthesia and extremely painful. It took his arm
months to recover. When his arm finally healed, it was permanently
bent, and he had limited use of it. But he learned to shoot and
wield a sword left-handed and eventually became very proficient
using his left hand. It wasn’t long before he was again leading
raids against the Continental Army.

During the time he was in
the hospital, his company of green-clad riflemen with their
Ferguson rifles had been disbanded. His men were reassigned to
regular fighting units. The Ferguson rifle was dropped in favor of
the less expensive Brown Bess and other general purpose arms. Most
of the Ferguson rifles gathered dust in a British warehouse, and
then, after the war, almost all of them would be destroyed. The
highly touted and very promising Ferguson rifle would end up having
very little impact on the war. But Captain Ferguson’s military
career was still far from over.

* * * *

Big Mike

“
Halt! Who goes there?”
shouted the British Army sentry.

“Michael Finn of
Philadelphia and his wife,” replied Big Mike.

“
What is your business
here?” asked the sentry.

“My wife and I live here in
Philadelphia. We have been away on business for the last several
weeks. We’re just now returning home this morning. We have always
been loyal to the crown,” answered Big Mike.

“
Do you have any weapons?”
asked the sentry.

“No, sir,” replied Big
Mike.

Big Mike did not in fact
have a weapon on his person. He and Molly had stopped before they
approached the British Army check point, and Big Mike had asked
Molly to hide his pistol under her skirts. She hid his pistol and
without a very close personal search, no one could tell that Molly
was carrying the pistol. The sentry asked Big Mike to open his coat
and gave him a very casual pat down search. After the sentry
searched Molly’s handbag, he was satisfied that they were not a
threat.

“If you have been away
several weeks, where is your baggage?” asked the suspicious
sentry.

“We shipped our belongings
ahead so that we would not have to deal with them while traveling,”
answered Big Mike.

“You may pass,” said the
sentry, who was now anxious to get back to his fire and his
comrades.

After much deliberation and
argument with Alex, Robert, and Hugh, it had been decided that
rather than have Molly and Big Mike try to sneak past the guards
into Philadelphia, it might be best to use a ruse and a more direct
approach. That was when Robert and Alex came up with the idea of a
businessman who had left on a business trip before the occupation
by the British Army returning to Philadelphia. Big Mike and Molly,
who were dressed like a middle class merchant and his wife, walked
through the British check point and into the city of
Philadelphia.

After they had cleared the
check point and were safely out of sight of the sentries, Molly
gave the pistol back to Big Mike. Mike made sure that the pan was
primed with gunpowder. He replaced it in his belt, to the side,
where it could not be seen with his coat buttoned and covering
it.

“
That was easier than I
suspected it would be,” said Molly.

“Yes, it was, but I don’t
think the British care too much about one man or one woman when
there are hundreds of Americans here in Philadelphia. Let’s see if
we can find Maggie and get out of Philadelphia as quickly as
possible,” said Big Mike as the couple walked further into the
heart of Philadelphia.

“Let’s stick to the plan and
find an inn that’s open, so you will have a place to stay while I
go get Maggie,” continued Big Mike.

“I want to go with you to
get Maggie,” said Molly flatly.

“That wasn’t the plan that
Alex and Robert came up with for us to follow. Remember the meeting
we had with them to plan this rescue?”

“I know it isn’t, but I
think we’ll have a better chance if I am with you, since I have
seen the men before. And when Maggie sees me, she will understand
the plan and will want to come with me,” replied Molly.

“I don’t know if your
presence will help or hurt, but rather than stand here in the
middle of the road and argue with you, let’s get this over
with.”

“
You won’t regret it,”
said Molly.

“That’s what they all say,”
replied Big Mike with a grimace.

They walked past the heart
of Philadelphia to the docks, where Samuel Ruskin’s warehouses were
located. Molly led them to the small offices in the back of the
warehouse where Samuel’s henchmen could usually be found. Big Mike
unbuttoned his coat so that he could have ready access to his
pistol, opened the door and walked in, with Molly following him.
They strolled up to a man who was working at a desk writing in a
ledger book.

“
Who’s in charge here?”
asked Big Mike.

“Who wants to know?” asked
the man, looking up from his work at Big Mike and Molly. The man
recognized Molly immediately, but tried to act like he didn’t know
her. Big Mike had detected that the man’s eyes had widened just a
bit when he looked at Molly, so he knew he was in the right
place.

“I work for Samuel Ruskin,
and he has sent me to collect a young woman named Maggie,” Big Mike
stated emphatically.

“I don’t know any Samuel
Ruskin or any Maggie,” said the man, who was still sitting at the
desk.

“Well, in that case, I guess
I’ll have to go back and tell Major Ruskin that no one here in his
warehouses knows him,” said Big Mike as he turned around to walk
out of the room.

“Hold on there, pilgrim,”
said the man. “Let me check with the warehouse straw
boss.”

The man stood up from his
desk chair and walked out of the office and into the warehouse in
search of his superior.

* * * *

Alex

Valley Forge was a cold and
snowy winter camp. The officers made every attempt to train the
men, but the weather didn’t always cooperate. Most of their time
was spent trying to stay fed and stay warm.

“Lieutenant Mackenzie, I
doubt that this war will be won in the northern colonies. A turning
point must be achieved in the southern colonies to turn the tide of
this war in our favor. I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a
shock to you, but I want you to transfer to the southern colonies
and help create that turning point in the war for me. I know that I
am asking a lot of you, but we all must sacrifice if we are going
to win this war. I think that you are just the man for this job,”
said General Washington to the stunned Alex.

“What do you mean by a
turning point, sir?” asked Alex.

“I’m not sure right now, but
I think that you and I will know it when it happens,” replied the
general.

“I’m going to discharge you
from the northern Continental Army here at Valley Forge, Lieutenant
Mackenzie, but before I do, I am going to promote you to the rank
of captain. I want you to travel south and then west to the
frontier to Fort Patrick Henry or to Fort Watauga. There are groups
of men located out there who are good fighters, but they need
direction. They also need a burr under their saddles to get them
moving in this war. When you get there, I want you to help organize
them, direct them, and spur them on. We need to get those men into
this fight more than they have been in the past.

“Your discharge papers will
show that you are leaving the northern Continental Army as a
captain, and I expect the military commanders out there to honor
your rank in the southern Continental Army. Take your brothers and
Alexander Glendenning and any others that you wish to take with
you. I would like to keep Michael Finn here with me when he gets
back from Philadelphia. I want him to take over Major Ruskin’s role
as the Prophet and continue to feed the British false information
for a while. As soon as the British catch on to the false Prophet,
I will either keep him here or send him south to you. Your other
men that you do not take south with you will be reassigned to other
units,” said the general.

“I would like to take Jonas
Dunne and his partner Clem Jackson with me also,” said
Alex.

“That’s fine; I will include
their discharge papers along with the others,” said General
Washington.

“It may take you a while to
gain the confidence of these fiercely independent men on our
southern frontier, but they are very important to our cause of
liberty. I think that they have a bigger role to play in our
struggle than they have had so far. I wish you luck, Captain
Mackenzie,” concluded General Washington.

“Thank you, sir. I will
carry out your orders to the best of my ability,” replied Alex as
General Washington rose out of his chair to shake hands with
him.

Alex left General
Washington’s tent and sought out Robert and Hugh to tell them the
news. He found them trying to stay warm by a fire, near where their
horses were tied.

“It looks like we are headed
south out of Valley Forge for the winter,” said Alex to Robert and
Hugh.

“I hope it is warmer
wherever we are going,” replied Hugh.

“
When do we leave?” asked
Robert.

“As soon as we can round up
Alexander, Jonas, and Clem; they are going with us,” replied
Alex.

“Where exactly are we
headed?” asked Hugh.

“Fort Watauga, I think.
General Washington mentioned Fort Patrick Henry also, but I think I
like the sound of Fort Watauga better,” answered Alex.

“
And where is that?” asked
Hugh.

“It is located in western
North Carolina on the frontier. We need to pack up our gear and
ride west out of here as soon as possible. We should be able to
pick up The Great Wagon Road somewhere near Lancaster and follow it
down to Big Lick. Then we will have to travel west to get over the
mountains and to Fort Watauga. But on the way, we’ll need to stop
at Williamsport and pick up my wife,” replied Alex.

“YOUR WIFE?” shouted Robert
and Hugh simultaneously, staring at Alex with their mouths agape
and eyes wide open.

“When were you planning on
telling us that ye are married?” asked Hugh.

“I thought I would wait and
surprise you,” said the grinning Alex.

“Weel, you’ve been a busy
wee hare, haven’t ye laddie?” said Hugh with an exasperated
look.

“
She is going to go with
us to Fort Watauga, but she doesn’t know it yet,” said
Alex.

“That could prove to be very
interesting,” said Robert, who usually didn’t have anything to
say.

* * * *

Big Mike